Former Tottenham Hotspur star Micky Hazard has been singing the praises of Ryan Mason.

The 23-year-old is making a breakthrough under Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino this season and is looking every bit the brilliant player he was expected to be when he was younger.

Mason has been at Tottenham for 16 years, but it is only now that he is getting his chances after years of being shipped out on loan in the last few seasons.

Hazard, who won the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup with Tottenham in the 1980s, is delighted with the progress of the Englishman.

“He’s shown character and resilience,” he told The Daily Mail. ’There are not many opportunities in modern football — not like in my day — but I’m surprised he’s taken so long and it’s not easy to be patient.

“He clearly had the ability. From the age of six or seven, he stood out. He always knew what to do and where to do it. He had a natural understanding, and football intelligence separates the good from the great.

“If you have a good football brain you can reach the very highest level, because the brain tells the feet what to do. He has good feet, good skill, he’s a good passer. You can still see he rarely gets caught.”

Mason has created 12 chances in 11 Premier League appearances so far this season, while having a pass accuracy of 82%, shot accuracy of 42%, and winning 55% of the duels.

Subhankar Mondal

A football journalist based in Wakefield, Subhankar Mondal has previously worked for Goal.com International and Skysports.com, and has had his sports articles published in The Guardian and The Observer. He has also been on the BBC in the past and his name once found its way to the pages of the World Soccer magazine. He was recently cited in a major Louis van Gaal biography.